This invention relates to a process for the production of steel from a quantity of charge material such as iron scrap, iron sponge, or other essentially metallic iron characters, wherein a column of the charge material is inserted in solid form into a converter having a plurality of nozzles disposed in the bottom area thereof, the inserted charge material being rendered molten and overheated upon the combustion of fuel in the presence of oxygen moving in a counter current. The invention further relates to the converter with nozzles disposed in the bottom area thereof for carrying out the process.
A process of the class described herein is described in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 27 19 981 in accordance with which scrap material together with energy carriers containing carbon are charged into a converter having nozzles for the introduction of oxygen which are built into a fire resistant brickwork below the level of the steel bath, whereby a steel melt is produced by means of a controlled introduction of oxygen into the converter. However, in accordance with such approach, it has been shown that an uncontrollable boiling occurs during the overheating as a result of a strong carbon monoxide formation. The boiling may eventually be decreased by carrying out the melting of the scrap more slowly, although this adversely affects the economy of such process. Despite the objectives to avoid the addition of molten pig iron, it became necessary to utilize the aforedescribed process in order to maintain the economy or practicability thereof. Although the batch of pig iron is relatively low as compared to known methods of operation of oxygen converters, the execution of this process will always be associated with a pig iron production plant.